Romanticism and melodrama where both thoroughly discussed in Chapter 15 of our book. Romanticism was a “movement” of sorts that was sparked by writers known as Romantics. Romantics, “felt that science was not an adequate to describe the full range of human experience, and their writings stressed instinct, intuition, and feeling. They wanted to go beyond reason to a transcendent realm of emotion where experience cannot be rationally explained” (Downs, 2013, pg. 366). Melodrama on the other hand, is “a type of play that usually features working-class heroes who set out on an adventure; story lines that praise marriage, God, and country; and florid background music” (Downs, 2013 pg. 371). Both Romanticism and melodrama contributed to the theatre. …show more content…
It expanded on it by not limiting human experience to science and philosophy. When researching Romanticism, Dr. Diane Thompson stated that “romantic writers and poets made a genuine break with the rational, orderly thinking of the eighteenth century Enlightenment” (Thompson 2005). William Wordsworth, John Keats, and William Blake are all examples of Romantics. Jean-Jacques Rousseau is known as the father of Romanticism. Rousseau believed strongly in the influence of nature rather than civilization, and many other romantic writers shared this belief. Examples of Romantic plays are Friedrich von Schiller’s The Robbers (1778) and Edmond Rostand’s Cyrano de Bergerac (1897). The most famous Romantic play is Les Misérable (Downs, 2013 pg. 368). Romantics believed the play shouldn’t be limited by length or a number of acts, but should tell the full story. Romantics also believed that the sets should be realistic and often altered the design of the set. Sets often continued the theme of nature and included forests, mountains, and gardens (Downs, 2013 pg.